Alicia: ‘Who I Am Being Faithful To?’ on THE GOOD WIFE

Alicia Florrick began the day at jury duty and ended it walking away from the possibility of a cocktail date during THE GOOD WIFE’s latest, “The Deep Web”.

Alicia Lets Go

It has been a rare occurrence to see Alicia Florrick not know which end is up. THE GOOD WIFE has followed her through emotional highs and lows, some of them devastating, yet the steel exterior remained intact. Not so after the loss of Will Gardner.

We got to examine how Alicia has gone from so depressed she couldn’t get out of bed, to suffering anxiety. So much so that on a rare day off, insisted upon by partner Cary, Alicia thought it would be a good idea to consult with her mother about her state of affairs. You know it’s bad when that happens, as Alicia acknowledged to herself.

When the two conferred over wine in Alicia’s home they explored how her mother coped with the loss of Alicia’s father to an early death. She likened herself to her father who told his daughter, “There are people who make the mess and there are people who clean up,” to which her mother said, “And you two are the cleaners.” Alicia acknowledged that she has always been the “good” one.

Then she finally let go. “I don’t know what I am any more. I’m spinning Mom and I can’t stop,” Alicia said as her breathing got quick and her chest heaved. “I shouldn’t have stopped working.” Yeah, time to think will do that to a person in grief.

She had already been through a day during which she didn’t know how to pass the time alone at home and she had a handsome man ask her to lunch then for a glass of wine in the evening.

Going through the stages of grief got complicated by a chance meeting at jury duty with that man who took a shine to her in the jury room as they waited to be chosen or released. Alicia got to go but Daniel, played by the handsome Nestor Carbonell had to serve. Sparks flew and outside the courtroom on a break, Daniel asked her to lunch. She said yes and was having a good time until she realized she was having one.

The curtain came down and she became all business, insisting on paying the check and refusing his cocktail invite. Her anxiety grew quickly and she couldn’t wait for the waitress to pick up the check to get out of there. Daniel did it and she fled.

After the talk with dear old mom Alicia Florrick put on her coat and walked to the cocktail lounge, peering in the window as she stood outside, vacillating about joining Daniel.

Alicia asked herself out loud, “It’s one drink, what’s my problem. Who am I being faithful to?” Bingo! The big question of the season and with only two more episodes set to air, it’s likely our Alicia will make a decision to start again. For that moment however, Alicia chose to walk away. In scenes from next week’s show we see that Finn Polmar’s opponent in the race for State’s Attorney has photos that compromise Alicia, putting Peter’s reputation in jeopardy. They just happen to be of Finn. More on that below.

Diane vs. Louis Canning and David Lee

“Is he dying?” Diane asked Kalinda after charging the investigator with figuring out if Mr. Canning was telling the truth about his physical condition. “He’s dying AND he’s trying to screw you”, Kalinda informed her.

David Lee and Canning had somehow gotten Diane’s assistant to send client calls their way and they had met off site at least eight times in two weeks. They were trying to build a case that she could no longer manage her own clients’ needs, never mind the law firm. The excuse for all the secret meetings was related to Lee drawing up estate documents for Canning, to get his affairs in order prior to his death.

Diane fired her assistant and faced down the two, still being unsure about the fallout from the news that Mr. Canning is terminal. Kalinda complimented Diane on her demeanor post-Will’s death. The strong lawyer even offered that she thought she was channeling her deceased partner.

Finn Polmar is getting closer

Finn and Alicia are now phone buddies who don’t need to manufacture a reason to speak. He caught up with her as she walked to the wine date that wasn’t, and she smiled while she spoke with him. Multiple scenarios present themselves for Finn’s character on THE GOOD WIFE. He wins the election and becomes another lawyer/politician in Alicia’s world. He loses the election and joins her firm. He loses and becomes her lover and joins Lockhart Gardner to keep the conflicts down. Any others you think are plausible?

Polmar allowed Eli Gold to prep him for a first interview as a candidate. It led to somber thoughts, recalling how it wasn’t he who was the hero that day in the courtroom. Will tried to disarm Jeffrey Grant and Finn then tried to keep his fellow attorney alive. You feel dirty, even in your first time shaping the truth and pitching yourself to people as you are told. It’s only the beginning for Finn, if he chooses to continue.

Polmar sought Alicia’s counsel towards in that phone to help him understand Diane’s tactics as she withdrew from representing a big client’s grandson. The college student named Robbie stood accused of taking money from a site called Silk Road, known for selling drugs online. His grandfather played by Robert Klein and Diane had Kalinda on the case investigating how Robbie might have been set up.

A computer whiz and a meek one at that, Robbie claimed he did not know that taking money from this company even for just writing some comments for their site, put him in jeopardy. Finn put the squeeze on to see if he would cop to something small and turn on who he knew was at the top of the organization. After a potential witness was found murdered the stakes got higher and ratcheted up even further when Kalinda discovered that Robbie was lying.

As Alicia told Finn on the phone. “Diane would never suborn perjury.” It made her withdraw from the representation and in a sticky way. The boy’s grandfather got angry at what he called abandonment. Diane could not reveal what she knew or implicate the boy because of attorney-client privilege; he was the client in this matter, not the grandfather. That will only serve to get David and Louis Canning back into finger pointing mode if the firm loses a big client. Finn now has a good idea that the accused is lying but it will be up to him to find out the specifics.

Oh the drama! After the scenes of next week’s show, it made this writer wonder if Daniel was a set up by the State’s Attorney and Alicia dodged that bullet. Your thoughts?

CBS airs THE GOOD WIFE on Sunday nights starting at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT Image: CBS, used with permission.